Feed for punching presses



Oct 21, 1930. E. v. CRANE FEED FOR PUNCHING PRESSES Filed June 1, 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 T l X l l l I I ll INVENTOR 65W WW g R By Attorneys,

631mm W Oct. 21, 1930. E. v. CRANE FEED FOR PUNCHING PRESSES Filed June 1, 1928 INVENTOR 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 I By Attorneys,

ricm l, MW f Oct. 21, 1930. E. v. CRANE FEED FOR PUNCHING PRESSES 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed June 1, 1928 INVENTOR wmd/ HUM By Attorneys, I ar 22252. 3

Oct. 21, 1930. I E. v. CRANE 1,778,824

FEED FOR PUNCHING PRESSES Filed June 1, 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Fig 6.

By Attorneys,

Oct. 21, 1930. E. v. CRANE FOR PUNCHING PRESSES Filed June 1. 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR dwwtd/ M W, By Attorneys, 6mm, MW *w Patented Oct. 21, 1930 7 ED F E f EDWARD v. CRANE, or BROOKLYN, NEW roan, hss'mnoniron. w. ,nnlsscomrm,

' OF YORK,

n.1, A CORPORATION or DELAWARE ram) ron IUNCHING masses g Application filed June 1,

This invention relates to feedingapparatus especially adapted for feeding thin sheet-metal blanks such as disks through a succession of punching positions or stations s'where successive punching operations are 'performed upon them.

particularly adapted for feeding thin steel disks which areliable to buckle; such disks may, for example, have'a thickness of .from .001 to-.015 times their diameter. The special apparatus to be describedis designed for the roduction of rotor andstator laminations or electric motors; these are thin disks and rings assembled together in large numbers to form the rotor cores and stator or field cores of such motors. These are most economically punched out one within the other from a single disk, forwhich purpose the operations will ordinarily bei I j a i 1. Feeding disks of the size of the stator laminae.

2. Punching the slots or notches and holes forthe rotor. i

3. Squeezing or bumping to flatten the burrs formed in such punching (an optional operation).

, 4. Blanking 'or striking ut the finished rotor lamina; and (preferably atjthe' same operation) stacking it under the die.

5. Punching the remaining annulus to form stator notches and holes. 6. Feeding out and preferably stacking the finished stator laminae.

'But these operations may be varied by:

(a) Feeding disks of stator size. (b) Blanking out and stacking the rotor blank disks, I g I p (0) Punching the stator notches and holes. (01) Stacking the finished stators and separately acting upon the rotor blank disks punched out at (b) by I (e) Feeding these rotor size disks. (f). Punching the'rotor notches therein. I

(g) Feeding out and preferably stacking the finished rotor laminae. 7

The order of operations depends principally'upon whether the rotor is of the closed slot type, in which case the operations according to series 1-6 apply;

The mechanism is i or is of the open slot 1925. serial No. 282,074.

type with little clearance,- in which case the operations according. to series (a)(d) and series (e)(g) apply. Other combinations of p grlichmg and. feedingoperations are permis- S1 e. I

The successive operations. preferably performed inlone press having a series of-stationary dies carried .on the bed,

I '55 described areand their corresponding punches carried beneath the.reciprocating -slide;of the press.

Heretofore it has been customary to out up the sheet into strips and perform the successive punching operations on the material in strip form, blanking out the rotor disks and later the stator disks, so as to leave the skeletonized strip as scrap. '.-:This;simplifies the i feeding operations, that ('1) there is considerablewaste of material as compared with punching out the disk blanks from awide sheet of the material (silicon steel); wherebythe punchings may be closely staggered 'in adjacent rows,

with considerable savingof material; (2) the delicate notching punches are liable to be damaged when called upon to out half blanks from the end-s of thestrip, which is avoided by the previous diskblanking in which the punches act always upon a complete disk; (3)

i the production isdiscontinuous, since it Is necessary to stop the press on completing each strip, .and restart with a new strip,

whereas in working from stator disk blanks" the punching may proceed in a practically continuous manner.

1 In working from disk blanks it has been customary to provide a dial feed to push them over the dies from each punch to the next; this is subject to the disadvantages that the dies are somewhat inaccessible and difiicult to adjust; also, that the successive dies have i to be set around angularly to the extent of ror tation of he disk by the dial feed. A and holes A straight-line feed, on'the contrary, provides for ready accessibility of the dies, and avoids any rotation or twistingof thedisksrin moving between successivedies; A The present invention provides for receiv ing blanks at a feedin -in position and moving them therefrom y, successive feeding movements to the successive dies, and for but has the disadvantages referably stacking the punched blanks, all

a straight-line feeding operation.- The b mks are best taken from a stack' by. an vsuitable separating and feeding means suc as a pneumatic feeder; they are then fed by grasping them at suitable points on opposite sides'in such manner. as notto buckle them; and they are carried between the punching spsitions in a feeding pleane lying above the m es and'iin' the space punches when the latter are elevated; ateach punching station theblank is received upon ace pins or supports which lower it onto the of the die, and after punching it is, lifted u back to the feeding. lane and again fed the .punched disks are allypushed down and stacked beneath the dies. The feedmechanism com rises twofeed bars having spaced notches a apted to engiag:

the diametrically-opposite edges of the o hasbeen ed; and the bars then execute a re- .turn movement bringing them back. to their first itions.- T118113. successive movements are simultaneously performed with respect to any number of disks which are simultaneouslyundergoing the punching and feeding operations.

The referred embodiment of. the invention is ustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

- .igure 1; is a plan of which Fig. 1' is a continuation, the view being in section in a plane approximating that of v the feeding, plane of the disks. v v

Fig. 2 is a front'elevation of which Fig. 2

is a continuation.

, Fig. 3 is an elevation showing in part the left-hand portion of Fig. 2 on a smaller seal "to illustrate the driving mechanism.

. Fig. 4 is an end elevation viewed from the left inFig."3..

Figs-4" and 4" are fragments of Fig. 4

showing the driving means more in detail.

Fig. 5 is a view of a typical specimen punching for rotor and'stator laminae (the punched holes being only partly shown).

* 6' is an end elevation on a larger scale than Fig. 4, some of the partsbeing broken away to show the means for moving the feed.

-bars toward and from each other.

I Fig. 7 is a similar section on the line 77 in. '05 .Fig. 2!, with the partsin a different position.

tweenvthe dies and Figs. 8, 9 and 10 are details of the stack feed.

Fig. 11 is an enlargement of Fig. 2 at position 3.

Fig. 11 is an edge'view of one of the feed bars partly in section.

Fig. 12 1s a diagram of the means for imof an elementparting longitudinal reciprocations to the feed bars.

Fig. 13'is a vertical "section through and beneath the die bed of .the press, looking from in fragmentary manner, since, the construction of such presses is well understood in the art. The particular type of press here used is one having a heavy bed on which a series of ,dies are fastened in a straight-line arrangement between the upright frames of the press; the wide punch slide ismountedto slidev in ways between the upright frames, and is driven in the usual manner by cranks or eccentrics on the usual main shaft above; so that all the punches move together, being carried bythe oneslide. The crank shaft,

which is shownonly in Figs. 3 and 4, is ex tendedbeyond one of the side frames and carries the cam and eccentric mechanism for im arting the feed movements.

0 far as the parts of the press are shown, they are designated by the letters A for the bed, B for the side frames, C for the punchcarrying slide, and D for the main shaft,

being the crank or eccentric shaft of the press. On abolster-plate A on the bed A are bolted the usual die bases E E for supporting the lower or female dies F F. The upper diesor punches G G are fastened as usual beneath punch bases H H which are bolted to the under side of the reciprocating slide C.

To enablethe successive dies to be understood, reference is first made toFig. 5, which shows a disk orblank a, andthe punchings (incompletely shown) which are made normally in the different operations performed, namely, the central rotor shaft hole I), the concentric series of holes a 0 in the rotor, and the punched-out slots (1 d (which are shown closed, but ma be open), the blanking out or circular out no punching e by which the xalreadypunched rotor is separated from the remainder of the blank, leaving the 'latteras a washer-sha ed annulus; the radial slots 7 f afterward punched in this annulus, and the fastening notches g g therein, with also, usually, an exterior notch 71.. It will be assumed that the complete series of operations above indicated in paragraphs 1 to 6, inclusive, are to be performed. For thes'e purposes the blank occupies successively several positions which in Fig. 1 are correspondingly numbered from 1 to 6 two additional idle stops are provided, marked 1' and 5. Position 1 is the feeding or receiving position; when the blanks are fed pneumatically from an inclined stack above, as'will be described, they are brought down one by one to this position this is the position where the blanks and from are first seized by thefeed' bars,

.which they are moved successively forward.

The position 1 is a mere idlestop; in position 2 the die and unch form the holes b, c, and the slots 03 of ig. 5; in position 3 the blank is squeezed or bumped between upper and lower flat surfaces to flatten out any burr formed by the punching in osition 2; in osition 4 the rotor diskblan is severed or blanked out by a punch and die which cut the circle e; in position 5 the stator blank has the notches f punched out, and also the holes 9 and notch 72.; position 5' is an idle position the final (position 6, a

for convenience; in pusher descends from above an forces down the statorannulus so that the successive stator blanks are stacked beneath.

These successive feeding erformed by two parallel which have notches at regular intervals for engaging the successive disks, and which are movable toward each other to engage the disks; have a longitudinal sliding movement for carrying the disks from one operating position to the next; are movable apart in order to release the disks in the successive fed positions; and have a backward reciprocating movement which they perform idly to return them to their starting points. For engaging the disks the feed bars are formed with pairs of notches t t at spaced intervals, these notches being V-shaped and inclined, as shown in Figs. 11 and 11, to engage the edges of the disks on o posite sides at points spaced to either side 0 transverse diametrical lines intersecting the centers of the disks; thus,

movements are the disks are grasped at two points on eac side, so that they are held against tilting and kept accurately in the fee ing plane. The V-notches t might be formed in the feed bars themselves, butit is preferable to form these notches inhardened jaws or die blocks j j which are fastened into larger recesses cut in the inner flanges of the feed bars and attached to such flanges by screws 9.

The bars J J are mounted to each side of the path of travel of the disks, and their feeding and return movements are sliding movements, for which purpose they slide in suitable guides, and for moving them they are conveniently connected to actuating slides. Their longitudinal slideways are formed in transversely-movable slides N N. For imparting their longitudinal movements a convenient construction is that shown, wherein their left-hand ends in Fig. 2 are fastened to slides K K shown in-plan in are mounted in transverse slideways on the upper side of slides L L which themselves feed bars J J h 1 and 2.

Fig. 1, which posite end portions of the feed are movable on longitudinal slideways L in a suitable fixed frame M, this construction being best shown in Figs. 2 and 6. Mechanism to be described is provided for reciprocating the slides L a distance equal to the feeding stroke. The bars J J are engaged by the transverse slides N N by any suitable .interlocking sliding en agement,- such as that shown in Figs. 6 or The slides N N are located on opposite sides of the feed bars and preferably in positions ap roximating the idle positions 1' and 5, who in this particular construction coincide with the location of the side frames of the press. The slides N N are caused to move toward and from each other in unison, and by their engagement with the feed bars give to the latter parallel movements toward and from each other, which movements coincide with the sto ping positions of the feed bars at the ends 0 their longitudinal strokes.

These movements of the slides N N may be variously imparted to them, a convenient construction bein that shown best in Figs. 6 and 7. A rock-s aft 0 is oscillated at pro er intervals by cam mechanism (to be escribed) and carries an elbow lever 70, the upper arm of which connects by a rod Z to an opposite lever m fulcrumed in a fixed frame 1% and having a lower arm which enters within a recess in the slide N so as to carry the latter withit in its movements. The opposite slide N must be oppositely moved, and for this purpose the lever is has a lower arm which connects by a link 0 with another elbow lever p fulcrumed in a fixed part of the frame and having a lower arm, shown in dotted lines in Fig. 6, which similarly enters a recess in the slide N for reciprocating it. The construction is more clearly shown in Fig. 7 with respect to the slides N N at the right-hand side of the machine, these being shownin Figs. The shaft 0 carries two arms, one, lettered '9, corresponding to the arm is in Fig. 6, but which in this instance extends for convenience downwardly and connects by a rod I with a pendent arm 8 fixed to a rock-shaft 7' which has bearings in a fixed frame n; keyed to this shaft is another pendent arm m which is a duplicate of the arm m already referred to, and which engages a recess in the slide N. The shaft 0 also carries an arm 9' (corresponding to the arm is in Fig. 6) which connects by a link 0' to an elbow lever p (like the lever p in Fig. 6), the lower arm of which enters a recess in the slide N to operate it. Thus, as is clear from Fig. 7, the two slides N N are caused by the rocking movements of the shaft 0 to move toward or from each other. The movements of the slides N N shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and of the like slides in Figs. 1 and 2, are simultaneous and equal, so that since these slides engage with the oprods the lat-- us I ter are given parallel movements toward and from each other.

In Fig. 6 the feed bars J J are shown sep arated, while the blank a stands in the feeding plane between them, ready to be grasped by them as they approach each other. In Fig. 7 they are shown as having approached and gripped the blank between them. In the open position of the feed bars shown in Fig. 6, the disk or blank a is supported above the die F by pins u to which may convenient-- ly be located in the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 11, or in any suitable position to effectively support the blank. During the feed movements of the blank these pins are lowered sufficiently to be out of the way,-but when the blank is brought to its stopping or fed position the pins are caused to rise ust as the-blank comes to a stop, so that when it is released by the separating of the notched jaws it finds itself supported on the pins. The pins are then lowered, whereby the blank is permitted to descend until it rests on the face of the die F. During this movement the blank is brought to exact center by engaging the inclined faces of guides or gauges 'v '11 shown in plan in Fi 11 andin elevation in Figs. Sand 7. During the lowering ofthe blank the punch may be descending, and after the blank comes to rest on the die the punch enters it and does its work of punching the blank. I

Referring to Fig. 13, the pins u a move freely through the die bases E E and rest at their lower ends on larger pins or plungers a which move freely through the bolsterplate A and are connected to a slide Q, which slide is caused to move up and down at proper intervals of time and thereby gives the correct movements to the pins u. Preferably the pins a rest by gravity on, the tops of the plungers u; to avoid damage in case of any obstruction, the plungers u are yieldingly mounted in the frame Q, as shown in Fig. 13, being formed with flanges 'v' pressed up by springs to.

After the punch has operated, and while it is moving up, the frame Q rises and causes the various pins u to ascend, thereby lifting each of the blanks back to the feeding plane, that is, to the level shown in Fig. 6, ready to be again grasped between the feed bars (which meanwhile have executed their backward reciprocation) and are now caused to approach each other to again grasp the blanks. The pins are then lowered slightly in order to be out of the way during the feeding movement of the blanks. f

The blanks might be fed to the position 1 by hand; but where a high-speed feed is desirable it is requisite to provide automatic means for depositing the blanks in this position with a frequency corresponding to the high feeding speed of which the straight line feeding mechanism is capable. For this purpose a pneumatic feed of the blanks from the bottom of an inclined stack is the most expeditious and practicable means. This stack feed is best shown in Fig. 2. It forms generically no part of the present invention, but is introduced as a part of the entire apparatus by which rapid feeding of disks is attained. The disks a are stacked in a magazine P shown as formed of inclined barsjof usual construction. The disks at the outlet are received between knurled rolls 10 which engage the disks at opposite sides, and revolve slowly, being mounted on two parallel shafts 11 which at their lower ends carry skew gears 12 which are turned by worms or skew pinions 13 on a shaft 14. In the construction shown, the shafts and rolls are turned back and forth, but the backward turning of the rolls is not essential. On the shaft 14 is fixed a lever 15, the long arm of which carries a pneumatic sucker or suction disk 16, while the short arm is connected by an adjustable link 17 to a rock lever 18 shown separatelyin Fig. 10, and which has a lost-motion connection with a pinion shaft 19, the pinion 2O ofwhich meshes with a rack 21 on a vertically-sliding bar 22. As this baris moved up and down (by mechanism to be described) it oscillates the shaft 19 through an arc of preferably 190 degrees. The shaft 19 carries a coupler member 23 having projections engaging meeting projections on a clutch disk 24 fastened to the rock lever 18 (see Figs. 6, 8, 9 and 10) The lever 18receives the stress of a spring 25 sufliciently strong to move the lever in such direction asto carry down the sucker 16; this movement brings the lever against a stop 26 which is adjustable by means of screws 27' so as to regulate the position to which the sucker 16 brings down the successive blanks, so, that the latter are brought accurately into the feeding plane. This movement occurs when the pinion shaft 19 is turned counter-clockwise in Fig. 2, the spring 25' taking up the lost motion between 23 and 24, so that the lever 18 is moved in' one-direction positively by the pinion shaft, and in the other direct-ionthe lost motion permits of the spring communicating the feeding movement to the sucker, but at a speed determined by thatof-the shaft, until the lever strikes the stop. 1

The pinion shaft 19 carries two crank arms 30 which are connected by links 31 to pivot pins 32 on the respective slides L L. Consequently the slides L L are reciprocated in unison from the position shown in full lines in Fig. 2 to the position shown in dotted lines.

The driving means by which these mechanisms are moved from the crankshaft D, will now be described. This shaft is prolonged beyond the side frame, as shown in Fig. 3, and its extension carries whatin the specific construction shown are an eccentric and two cams. Th'e eccentric 35 acts through dwell at each necting rod lines, these centers a rod 36 (Figs. 3 and 4) to operate'a lever arm 37 on a shaft 38 carrying an opposite lever arm 39 the end of which is forked and engages a collar 40 on the slide rod 22, so that the movement imparted by the eccentric is communicated to the rod 22 and through the rack and pinion to the shaft 19. The rack 21, being reciprocated from the crank, has a end of its movement as the crank pin passes through its dead centers, and hence the arms 30 have a like dwell; and as these drive the slides L L through links 31, a further dwell occurs as the crank arms reach their dead centers with respect to the axis of these links, so that the pause is the sum of these, dwells. A further prolongation of this pause is occasioned by giving the shaft 19 and arms 30 a movement in excess of 180 degrees, so that the centers of the crank arm studs pass beyond such dead centers. t is desirable to give as long a pause or dwell at the ends of the reciprocating movements of the feed bars as possible in a four-motion feed of this type, to enable the lateral movements due to the operation of the slides N N to properly engage and disengage the disks being fed. Thus the shaft 19 is oscillated more than 180 degrees (preferably 190 to 200 degrees or thereabouts), and this excess movement is availed of to bring the slides L L and the feed bars to a prolonged stop at each end of their longitudinal reciprocating movements. The effect of this will be understood from the diagram Fig. 12, where 19 is the pinion shaft, 130 is the center line of the crank arm 30, and 131 is the center line of the con- 31; the center of the crank stud connecting 30 and 31 is marked 230, and the center of the stud 32 is marked 232; in their extreme opposite positions shown in broken are designated 230 and The center line 131 in- 232' respectively.

when the arm is at tersects the shaft axis the opposite dead centers correspon an oscillation of 180 degrees (but modified slightly by the fact that the slide travel from 232 to 232' is slightly oblique to the dead center position of line 131) for a slight angular position motion (approximately 5 degrees) to either side of the dead center, the line of movement of the crank arm center 130 deviates so slightp ly from an arc struck from the center 232 as to be practically imperceptible, so that this movement to either side of the dead center leaves the center 232 practically mothe same is true in the diametrically opposite position, where 230 has moved to 230' and 232 has moved to 232. If the crank movement were 180 degrees, this would be true during, say, 5 degrees at each end of its movement; but the dwell thus occasioned would be undesirably short, and by adding, say, 5' degrees of movement to the opposite side of the dead center, the dwell in either position is doubled This is indicated in the tionless dmg to down movements.

diagram by the 10 degree arcs shown, and the dotted lines indicating crank arm 30 and of the link center 131'. Thus the sens'ble movement of the slide and feed bars occurs during about 17 0 degrees of oscillation, while the dwell at either end of the movement occurs during the ensuing 10 degrees or thereabouts of the movement. 11 this simple way the feed bars are caused to remain motionless at each end of their stroke sufficiently long to permit the outward and inward movements to be imparted to them for grasping and releasing the blanks.

The inward and'outward movements of the feed bars are derived from a cam best shown in Fig. 4, which acts on diametrically opposite rollers 46 carried by a sliding yoke which forms part of a link or connecting rod 47 which extends thence downward and is coupled to the end of a lever arm keyed on the rock-shaft 0 previously described for imparting to that shaft the movements which are communicated to the transverse slides N N, and thereby to the feed bars as already described. These movements are short abrupt movements occurring 180 degrees apart in the rotation of the main shaft D.

The shaft D carries also a cam 50 which acts upon a roller 51 carried on a reciprocating yoke forming part of a connecting rod 52, the lower end of which 53 keyed on a shaft 54 from which projects lever arm 57 keyed ona shaft 58 which extends from side to side of the press, as shown in Fig. 13. Keyed on this shaft are two arms 59, the ends of which overhan lugs 60 formed on opposite ends of the slice Q. This slide is ressed up against these arms by springs springs mounted on guiding rods R R which are set fixedly in the bolster-plate A and serve for guiding the frame Q in its up and The cam 50 is so ,contoured as to give the risin and falling movements to the pins u u w ich have been described. The stress of the springs S S is communicated through the intervening mechanism to the roller 51, whereby it is kept ressed against the contour of the cam 50.

The feed mechanism provided by the present invention has the advantages of feeding dISkS or similarly-shaped blanks of thin sheet-metal with great accuracy, without in- ]ury to the blanks, and at high speeds so as to render available the, maximum output of which the punching press is capable. The blanks are fed without any rotative displacement, such as results from adial type feed. The straight-line movement enables the dies press, and facilitates the adjustment of the dies and punches to exact register; the feed bars occupy the least possible room adjacent the centers of 48 which is is coupled to a lever arm S which are shown as helicalto be set in a straight line on the bed of the blanks in a straight line in a plane between i the dies, and so leavethe dies and punches as l free as possible for examination or for any manipulation that may become necessary; the construction also enables the dies and punches to be so mounted as to be readily accessible from the front of the press.

While the machine described embodies the preferred construction'according to this invention, yet this construction may be considerably modified in essential respects. It is understood that any changes such. as are within the ability of an engineer or skilled mechanic, and which come within the scope of the appended claims, may be made without departing from my invention.

What I claim is:

1. A punching press having successive dies and punches and feeding means for carrying successive blanks thereto, comprising means for simultaneously grasping the blanks. and

for advancing them in a feeding plane intermediate the planes of the die and punch faces, and for releasing them on the respective dies. and supporting means for receiving the fed blanks, movable to lower them onto the dies for punching, and movable after punching to lift them back to said feeding plane.

2. In combination with apunching press having a plurality of dies and punches, a feed mechanism for feeding successive blanks simultaneously to the successive dies, comprising parallel reciprocating feed bars having recesses for engaging the blanks, means for longitudinally reciprocating them, and means or moving them laterally to grasp and release the blanks.

3. A feed' mechanism for disk-shaped blanks, comprising parallel reciprocating feed bars having at spaced intervals recesses for engaging the blanks at two points on opposite sides thereof, means for longitudinally reciprocating the bars, and means for moving them laterally to grasp and release the blanks.

4. A punching press having successive dies mounted in line at spaced intervals 'on the bed of the press, and corresponding unches likewise mounted on the reciprocating slide of the press, combined with a feeda ing mechanism adapted to feed successive the punches and dies when separated, comprising parallel reciprocating feed bars havlng recesses for engaging the blanks, means for longitudinally reciprocating them, and means for moving them laterally to grasp and release the blanks.

5. A press and feeding mechanism according to claim 1. with means for feeding blanks successively from a stack to a receiving position from which they are fed by said feeding mechanism.

6. A punching press comprising successive dies and punches, and means for feeding blanks thereto, comprising a reservoir for holding a stack of blanks, means for transferring blanks successively from such stack to a receivingposition, and reciprocating feed bars having spaced notches adapted .to grasp the blanks in such position and. to feed forward successive blanks simultaneously to stopping positions coinciding with the respective dies, and to release the blanks in .such positions for punching.

7. punching press having successive dies andpunches, a reservoir for holding a stack of blanks, a pneumatic sucker for withdrawing one blank at a time from such stack and transferring it to a receiving position, and reciprocating feeders adapted to grasp successive blanks in such position and advance them step by step to the positions of the successive dies and punches, and to release the blanks in such respective positions for punching.

8. A punching press comprising successive dies and punches, a magazine holding a stack of blanks, a pneumatic feeder for separately withdrawing blanks therefrom and transferring them to a receiving position, comprising a lever carrying. a sucker, an oscillating shaft, an arm mounted on said shaft with lost-motion connection therewith, a spring acting on said arm to move it toward the blank-receiving position, and an adjustable stop for determining its arrest in such position to bring the blank to the correct plane for feeding, and reciprocating feeders'adapted to grasp the blank in such position and to feed successive blanks simultaneously to the successive dies.

9. A feeding mechanism for a punching press comprisingparallel reciprocating feed bars, reciprocating slides having connection with said bars for imparting to them their reciprocating movements, an oscillating shaft having crank arms and links connecting therefrom to said slides for imparting such reciprocating movements, said crank arms and links aligned in crank positions approximately 180 degrees apart, and said crank arms moving through an arc exceeding 180 degrees, whereby to impart a prolonged dwell to the slides at positions approximating the deadcenter positions of the crank arms.

10. A feeding mechanism for a punching press comprising parallel reciprocating feed ars, reciprocating slides having connection with said bars for imparting to them their reciprocating movements, transversely-movable slides having enagagement with said feed bars, and means for moving said slides simultaneously toward and from each other to impart parallel approaching movements of the feed bars in the blank-grasping positions, and to impart receding movements in the blank-releasing positions.

11. A press and feeding mechanism according to claim 1, the supporting means for receiving the fed blanks arranged contiguous III ' pins slidable and falling frame to the dies, and cam operated means for imparting to them timed up and down movements.

12. A press and feeding mechanism according to claim 1,'the supporting means for recelving the fed blanks comprising upright pins, and means forimparting simultaneous up and down movements thereto.

13. A press and feeding mechanism accord-- ing to claim 1, the supporting means for receiving the fed blanks compnsing pins movable through openings in the dies, and operating means beneath for imparting rising and falling movements to said pins.

14. A press and feeding mechanism according to claim 1, the supportin means for receiving the fed blanks comprising upright in holes in the dies, and a rising and falling frame beneath the dies having connections with said pins for imparting to the latter their rising and falling movements.

15. A press and feeding mechanism according to claim 1, the supporting means for receivmg the fed blanks comprising upright pins slidable in holes in the dies, and a r1s1ng and falling frame beneath the dies to which said pins are yieldingly connected, the yielding connections adapted to permit the depression of the pins. 1

16. A press and feeding mechanism according to claim 1, the supporting means for receiving the fed blanks comprising upright pins slidable in holes in the dies, and a rising beneath the dies to which said pins are connected, springs normally presslng up said frame, and cam-operated parts adapted to press down the frame against the stress of said springs for operatingthe pins.

17. A press and feeding mechanism according to claim 1, with guiding gauges adjacent the respective dies having inclined faces adapted to engage tering the blanks.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto signed my name.

. EDWARD v. CRANE.

the edges of the blanks as I the latter are lowered onto the dies for cen-- .cnnrlrtcmz or CORRECTION.

Patent No. 1,778,824. Granted October 21, 1930, n

EDWARD V. CRANE.

It is hereby certified that the residence of the assignee in the above numbered patent was erroneously given as "New York, N, Y.", whereas said residence should have been given as Brooklyn, 'N. Y., as shown by the records of assignments in this office; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 9th day of December, A. D. 1930.

V M. J. Moore, (Seal) Acting Commissionerof Patents. 

